Wolf Girl: Out Of The Woods
by francescaalavin
Summary: Carys and the pack go back to the wild for short visit, it quickly turns into much more than a family holiday. (not a Maddian fic but they are together in this and go through some stuff of their own) Third part in my Wolf Girl Series
1. Chapter 1

Carys' POV

"I never wanted to die, I just thought that's what she wanted. At least that's what she was telling me. I now understand that it was all just in my head. I now understand that I had subconscious feelings about her, instincts. They were buried so far down with all of my heartbreak. My instincts were right though, even though I didn't quite realise they were there, they were right. She's not my mother, he's not my father. Ceri and Gerwyn are my parents. Spending those 3 months in here was rough, but with the meds you gave me it really made a difference, as well as all this therapy and the techniques you've showed me. I'm still taking the meds and I don't intend to stop." I tell Dr. Stevens, my therapist.

"And how are you in terms of your scars?"

"I'm okay with them, I really am. I had scars before my breakdown and the attempt, from Kincaid. I don't try to hide them. I am a little worried about going back to school. Some people might see me as 'brave' or whatever, but there are some pretty nasty kids in my school."

"You're a strong girl, you'll get through it. And what about Ava? How do you feel about her being around a little bit more?" He says while looking up from his cliché notepad that all therapists have.

"I like her, I can't blame her for who her dad is."

"You're a good person Carys. Do you believe that now? Do you believe that you're loved?" He leans forward, putting his notepad down.

"Yes. Of course, I always did, but the things that were going on in my head were blocking that. It wasn't me. At least not the whole time. There would be times when Mum would have to keep reassuring me that she loves me, and that everyone else does too. Jana had to as well." I twist the brown leather bracelet on my wrist, she gave it to me.

"How are things with Jana?" He picks up the pad again.

"Good." I smile. "Amazing, actually. She's so supportive, I hope I can be as good to her as she is to me, and thank you for letting her see me. I honestly don't think only being able to see mum was doing me any good."

"Of course, she's a big part of your life." He smiles back at me. "How is it living with your family?"

"It's weird, but I like it. I always wanted a big family. Now I have two brothers and a half sister. Bryn's adjusting surprisingly well to tame life, better not speak too soon though. He hasn't started school yet. And we see Ava on full moons and sometimes she spends the weekend when there's a dark moon. It used to be a bit of a squeeze in the old house but now that mum is working with young Wolfbloods and dad is Head of Finance, we have a bigger house. And the Smiths are letting Jana stay with them."

"I'm really happy for you Carys. You've come so far in the few months you've been recovering."

"Thank you."

"Well, I think we're done for today. Same time next week?" He writes things down.

"Actually, I'm going to visit the old pack with mine, Mum and Dad have to like, elect a new pack leader, even though we all know it's going to be Jana's dad. I think it's just an excuse to see the pack again. Can we skip a week?"

"Only if you're sure you can go without."

"I'm sure, and if I need anything I have your number." He nods.

"Okay." He closes the pad. "Good luck going back to school.I'll see you in two weeks." I shake his hand and walk out to the hall, where Jana is waiting for me.

"How did it go?" She kisses me on the cheek.

"Good, I told him that we're going away so I won't see him for two weeks. He said it's okay, and that I'm doing really well."

"You are, I'm so proud of you." She gives me a proper kiss. A foot-popping-together-forever kind of kiss. We're both truly happy with our lives.

We've arranged to meet Tom and Shan for lunch. They're eating in Shan's office. I still can't quite believe she has her own office now. That must be nice for her and Tom, as neither of their parents are too keen about them being alone together. At least their parents don't know about how much of an important part Shan is to Segolia.

"So when do you guys leave?" Tom asks as he slurps up his spaghetti.

"Tomorrow," we notice Shannon pull a face, "we'll be back for the first day of school, don't worry about that Shan." Jana says.

"I can't help but be worried, you both missed a lot of school last term. I just want to make sure you actually finish your GCSE's so you can-"

"So we can what? Get a job here? You know that's not really our kind of thing. We're not scientists." Jana says. I can tell she's a little bit frustrated, I decide to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, Jana can't even spell science." She playfully nudges me and giggles. "But seriously, Segolia isn't really for us."

"You might change your tune when you find out what kind of jobs they have to offer now." She says with a mouthful of salad.

"Like what?" I'm sort of curious, I'm a little bit more open-minded than Jana, who tries to ignore the topic of career paths.

"Well, Sweeney's putting together a sort of protection agency. To keep the Wolfbloods around here safe, and to stop other packs invading your territory. She wants you two to head it. When you've finished school though."

"That actually sounds kind of cool." I look at Jana, who's absent-mindedly playing with her food.

"You'd get to spend your work days out in the woods, surveying the area and everything. Victoria wants you especially because of your extra heightened sense of smell, and Jana for how well she knows the surrounding woods."

"Jana." I nudge her.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sounds cool." She clearly isn't paying attention.

"Come on, we're going for a run." I pull her up from her seat. "See you guys next week."

"Have fun in the wild!"

I yank Jana out of the building. "What's going on with you? Is it your instincts?" She nods, looking into the forest. "Your dad?" She nods again. "We'll see him tomorrow, if something's going on it then we can help."

"I'm sure it's nothing, I'm probably just excited to see him. I don't get excited very often." I laugh at her. We take each others hands and run through the forest together.

This seems to be what we do most of the time. When we get the chance at least. A lot of our time has been spent moving me in with mum and dad, and then moving Rhydian in, and then moving all of us to the new house. We did have a party once though. To celebrate me and Rhydian being where we belong. We did it when mum and dad went to go and get some stuff from dad's old house. They were gone the whole night. It was pretty fun until Maddy's parents shut it down. I'm not sure why they did though, it's not like the whole school was invited. It was just our pack. So Rhydian and I may have broken into dad's wine cooler but it was one bottle, and Bryn was sound asleep in bed. Admittedly it was probably a dumb idea. Who even likes wine anyway?

To be fair we've had a few good times this summer. We went to Norway with Segolia for a full moon, they let me bring Jana too. That was pretty special for us. We went for the whole week. Of course Dad told mum what human teenagers get up to and mum assumed that that's what we would get up too, so we couldn't share a room. We've shared before of course, but she didn't know much about teenagers back then. She was right though. I snuck into Jana's room and we... sealed the deal, so to speak. I didn't think it would be a big deal, after all Rhydian and Maddy have done it, and Tom and Shannon. Not that we were trying to keep up. It was a big deal though, the second I got outside her room, I had to take a minute to think about it. I was certain though, I still am. She's the love of my life and I'm so happy that we got to reach that part in our lives together. She's perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhydian's POV

Bryn wakes me up at the crack of dawn. "Mum says get out of bed." His impressive persuasion skills aren't what gets me up, surprisingly. It's the smell of bacon. I sluggishly stand up and traipse out to the landing. Carys is walking exactly the same as me, Bryn must have got her up too.

"You too eh?" She yawns and nods.

Mum has acquired some pretty decent cooking skills since she's been tame, she only works 4 days a week so I'm guessing this is what she does on her days off. She's laid out a feast of a breakfast; bacon, sausages, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, black pudding and all the different types of eggs possible.

"Wow, mum, there's going to be meat for us in the wild, no need to fill us up." Carys says as the rest of us dig in.

"Oh I guess you're not hungry then." She jokingly takes Carys' plate away, but bacon is no joke to a Wolfblood.

"I mean, uh, thank you, I'm starving." She pulls the plate back, breathing in the incredible aroma's surrounding us plate.

"I could get used to this everyday." Bryn says. We finish the entire feast in about 5 minutes flat. I love that Carys has gotten used to calling them mum and dad, it really makes this house feel like a home.

The door bell rings. "Oh, that'll be Maddy and Jana." I get up wiping the grease from my mouth.

"Maddy?" Mum says.

"Yeah, she's coming with us." I say as I head towards the front door.

"Why?" Dad says.

"Uh, because she's my girlfriend." I laugh it off.

"Are you sure it's wise she comes Rhydian? I don't know how the pack will react to a tame." Mum says.

"We're all tame mum, and anyway, you're letting Carys bring Jana."

"That's different, Alric is Jana's dad." Carys chimes in.

"Well Maddy's my girlfriend and she's coming." I can't be bothered getting into a fight with Carys, even though I kind of like fighting with her. I don't know why, I guess it's a big brother thing. I walk out of the kitchen to let Maddy and Jana in. Jana awkwardly says hey and continues on into the kitchen. Maddy looks at me. She knows right away something's up.

"Why don't they want me to come?" Sometimes I forget that it's not hard for a Wolfblood to hear through a piece of wood and a hallway.

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter, you're coming." I kiss her, I have my arms around her back and realise she's got a massive bag with her. I laugh out of our kiss.

"What?" She gently pushes me.

"You don't know much about living wild do you?" I shut the door behind her and we go up to my room.

She starts to put some of my clothes into a bag.

"Mads, I wanted you to come so you can get the experience of living wild. None of us are bringing anything. Carys is bring her pills and her phone incase she needs to call her therapist but that's it. Well, Jana wants to bring toilet roll. If it was up to her she'd bring the whole bathroom. But you don't need all of that junk."

"Well I don't want to be all dirty and stuff."

"Everyone out there stinks. I wouldn't worry about a little bit of BO." I kiss her again. "Besides you're already in need of shower, Smelly Girl."

"Shut up." We continue to kiss for a while, and we begin to move to my bed, realising that this is the last time we'll be alone for a week. And then Bryn decides it's the perfect time to walk in. We both look up at him in shock.

"Why are you fighting?" To be fair, if I was a kid and saw two people in this position, I'd think the same thing. Maddy quickly gets off of me and sits up.

"We're just practising, you know, in case anyone challenges us to a Broider when we're out in the wild." I'm still good at lying.

"So Bryn, are you excited to go and visit the wild pack?" Maddy asks, changing the subject.

"Are you joking?" He says sarcastically and walks out of the room. As soon as the door shuts, Maddy and I burst into fits of laughter.

Once we're all ready to go, and I've convinced Maddy to leave her gigantic bag behind, we head off for the wild. It's not a long walk because the pack are closer to us at the moment, so we get there in about an hour.

Immediately the pack start to get excited that their Alpha's are back, along with three heirs and a former Alpha. Some of them begin crowding around mum and dad.

"Back." I hear a familiar voice thundering. The pack makes way for a path. Alric emerges from the crowd, he approaches Jana.

"You've made the right decision to return Jana, now you can be my heir again." He hugs her.

"Dad, I'm not staying. I'm only here to see take your rightful place as Alpha." He shoots a look at me, and then at Carys.

"Which one is it this time? Which one is forcing you to be tame?" He walks right up to Carys, they had made amends but everyone knows she's still afraid of him. I step in front of her, it's clear that Jana's too oblivious to see that her dad wants to hurt us.

"It's Jana's choice, you can't start this again." I say in his face. Jana pulls Carys to her, mum and dad growl at Alric.

"I am to be Alpha again, yes?" He asks them.

"Not if you continue this way Alric. Jana is tame now, she is not a part of this pack any more and she will not be your heir." Dad steps in front of me, they both try to protect us all.

"I knew something was up." Jana says to Carys.

"She is my daughter." He growls back. He pushes past my parents and past me. "Jana, you belong in the wild as long as you are an Alpha or an heir."

"I am neither." She says taking Carys' hand. "At least not for this pack." Alric is clearly resisting the urge to lash out, he turns away in anger and goes to the den. Everyone is instantly relaxed now that he's gone.

"You can't let him become Alpha when he's still acting like that." I say to my parents. I take Maddy's hand.

"He's right. I know he's my father, and by blood I'm going to be his heir again, but there's nothing he can say or do that will bring me back to the wild. I know where I belong." Jana says.

"Let us discuss it." Mum says. "Carys, don't forget your pills." They walk away and sit on the far side of camp.

Bryn runs off to hang out with Gwyn an Cadwr it's been a long time since he's seen them. So the rest us sit by the river. As badly as Alric treated me when I lived wild, he does make a good Alpha. I just don't think it's a good idea if he's going to be driven mad again. Mending his relationship with Jana is what got him granted Enouwian. Now that he's messing it up again, he's just asking to be exiled.

It's pretty clear that Carys and Jana want to be alone to talk, so I decide to take Maddy for a walk to show her around this part of the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

Jana's POV

We look over at some of the older cubs who are watching us as Carys checks her phone and takes her pills. Their names are Ingrid, Tove and Beca, they're like the K's of the wild, but a little meaner. Jana said Ingrid was like a little sister to Meinir "What do they want?" She says to me. "They won't stop staring at me, they never even paid attention to me when we were in the wild last time." I just want to talk to her about what my dad's been saying.

"I promise I'm not staying in the wild, I'm staying with you." I say to her, she looks down at the river in front of us. She doesn't quite seem to believe me. "Carys," I take her face in my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes, "I promise."

"How can I be sure you're not coming back here because of me? If it's what you want then stay." She pulls away from me, then she turns back to me. "And I'll support you."

"It's not what I want, I mean it would be nice not to have to plan for a human future, but I want to be with you in the human world, and with all of our friends."

"You don't have any interest in anything I try to suggest. Even those amazing positions that Victoria Sweeney is going to offer us, it's perfect for us." She says takes my hands.

"Okay listen, a job like that would be incredible, and yes I would love it, but I just don't feel like I'm being true to myself you know? I was sort of born to be Alpha of this pack, and in a weird way I feel like I'm betraying everything I was made for. I've never felt like this, I've always been okay with my decisions to be tame, because they were my decisions. Lately I feel like my decisions have been made by you." I feel so mean for saying this but I can't lie to her, I need to be honest with her.

"You really feel like that?" She says, pulling her hands away from me. I nod, now I'm the one who can't make eye contact. "Why have you never said anything?" I shrug. "Fine, I'm going for a walk." She gets up.

"Carys, please don't be like that. I'm just not sure what I want. I didn't mean to sound like a bitch," She starts walking away, "I'm just trying to be honest with you, I know how much you hate lying, after everything you've been through I get it Carys. I should have been honest from the start." She's gone. I don't bother following her, if she's allowed to be mad then so am I.

I want to stay in Stoney Bridge, but I can't lie to myself, I want to stay here too. I can't have both, but how can I choose between these two packs? Both of which have been loyal to me. With exception of Aran and Meinir at times, but even they came around eventually.

The wild pack have so much to learn, especially the cubs, and I can help them. Plus my father's here, I can be a beta wolf again and then Alpha. But the human world have all of these amazing things that I can't believe I went so long without, and my beautiful Carys. Both of these places have so much to offer me, either opportunity would be stupid to pass up.

But there are the negatives to each places. I want to bring a family into this pack, and it's not possible for two female Wolfbloods to do that out here, however it is possible in the human world, but my cubs would never get to grow up in the world that I did.

I love Carys with all my heart and I don't want to leave her. I know she would never want to come to the wild with me now that she finally has her life back. Maybe when we're older, when she gets bored of her job. I'm already thinking as if I've left her. I can't leave her. That has to be the only answer. So why am I confused?

I walk along the river for a few minutes and I see the young cubs playing in the trees.

"Jana, come join us!" Cadwr shouts. He's sat on a large branch with Bryn, Gwyn is on an even higher branch.

"I think I'll pass, I don't think your mother would be too happy with you messing about up there Bryn." It still sounds weird talking about Ceri like this. She's become so motherly and even more protective of her family. Especially little Bryn, now that he's back she would break down if she lost him again. I think we all would. However, I think it's fair to say she babies him a little bit.

"My tame mother isn't in charge of me." He howls, Bryn and Gwyn copy him. He's always had an influence on them. He's always been Alpha of himself, having his own Betas is probably going to his head a bit too much. I laugh it off and continue on my walk.

I think about Carys, I think about how painful it was to be apart from her, I think about how painful it is to be apart from her right now. But I'm mad at her, why can't she just understand me? I know it's selfish but I was there for her in her time of need, all of her times of need, I sort of expected the same in return. I suppose her last relationship ended with a fight about lying. But that was her lying, and for good reason. Surely she can understand why I haven't told her how I've been feeling about being tame. It's not like I'm completely changing my mind about tame life, I'm just a bit confused.

And her relationships with Geraint and Rhiannon, that was based on lies. How is someone supposed to know what kind of lying is okay? I mean, how was I supposed to know whether or not to protect her feelings?


	4. Chapter 4

Carys' POV

Why didn't she just tell me how she was feeling from the start? I'm better now, I don't need my feelings protected. I'm not a child. If she wants to stay then of course I'll support her, but I can't stay here too. I need to be with my family, she's my family too but I need my mum and my dad, I've gone so long unknowingly living in a broken home. I don't want her to stay here but I can't hold her back from doing what she wants to do, the guilt would follow me around and we'd fall apart anyway. I don't understand why she's suddenly got cold feet, I thought she loved the tame way of life, was she lying the whole time? I guess she never really lied, she just changed the subject whenever I'd start talking about the future. I didn't realise she didn't want me in her future. No that can't be it, I know she loves me. I can't afford to start thinking like that again, not after how far I've come since my attempt.

After running for a while, I walk back towards camp, it's getting dark anyway, I should probably get some sleep. Maybe in the morning we'll talk and we'll both have clear heads.

"Mum?" I stop near my parents who are still sat talking about Alric. "Where am I sleeping tonight?"

"You're all sleeping in the den, it'll be warmer and I know how much you're going to miss central heating." She tries to joke but I know she's still stressed out about Alric. "Goodnight, Cariad." She and dad kiss me goodnight and I head off into the den. I'm the first one there of course, it's probably not even 9 o'clock yet but I'm supposed to go to bed early anyway, that's what Dr. Stevens said to do, especially if I get stressed out.

I wake up to a nightmare. Unfamiliar hands cover my mouth and eyes and drag me silently out of the tent. I try to scream but another hand grasps my throat, I can barely breath and my life flashes before my eyes, I think of Jana. I'm dragged slowly for a few minutes until I come to stop, the hands move and begin to hold me down. The hands move from my eyes and I see glowing yellow blotches as I try to blink away the blur of my watery eyes. Ingrid is above me, she's upside down from my view, with one hand on my mouth and the other one holding my hands down above my head. I look down and see Tove and Beca holding down my legs. Ingrid has the most awful smirk on her face.

"You call yourself a Wolfblood?" I feel the tears leaking down my face. "Wolves don't cry." Her minions cackle. She pushes my sleeve down and looks at my scars. This is the first time I've felt uncomfortable with them. "She can't even heal properly." Beca's hand moves to my pockets.

"Look what we've got here!" She pulls out my phone and my pills and tosses them to Ingrid. She manages to turn my phone on. I see that screen says I have missed calls, from Anwen. Why would she be calling me now? We haven't spoken in months. Anwen's the least of my troubles now.

"What are these for?" She says staring at my pills, she stands up moving to use her feet to hold my hands down. Her hand comes off of my mouth. "Don't even think about screaming or these are gone." She pulls the cap of the pill bottle and sniffs them. "Well, answer the question human." She crouches down by my face.

"I'm not human." I spit at her. Immediately Tove and Beca flip me over and let go of me. Before I can get up Ingrid kicks me in the stomach. I feel like my guts are about to come out of my mouth. I spit up some blood. I haven't been able to get my strength back much since what happened to me, but I am strong, I can take this. I get up and look her directly in her eyes. I feel my eyes turning yellow, and my veins black. "I will not fight you, give those back to me." I don't know why I bother trying to reason with her. She throws my phone down on a boulder. I run to grab it but Tove and Beca beat me, they hold me back as Ingrid uses a rock to smash my phone to pieces. I break free from their grasp and charge at Ingrid, I knock her to the ground but she's stronger than me, I go to punch her in the mouth but she grabs my fist and manages to twist me over so she's on top of me. She pins my hands down again, and uses her feet to keep my legs flat. I feel so weak that I don't even bother trying to move.

"Don't even think about telling anyone, I will hurt everyone you love if you do, and you won't be getting these back. You can have them if you do exactly as I say." She hisses and she gets off of me, my pills in her hand. I stand up to face her. "You have three options. One, you can have these back one by one each day, but there'll be consequences, people will get hurt. Two, you go without them, and everyone's fine, except you. Three, you take them all at once, and the world is better off."

"You want me to kill myself? Why are you doing this?" I try so hard not to cry in front of them. How does she even know what they're for?

"I don't like fakes. Don't cross me again." Tove and Beca follow her back to camp.

I lay down, defeated on the cold, wet ground. If I don't have my pills then the voice will come back and I'll be back where I started, I can't even call Dr. Stevens now. I don't feel the cold as much as I feel the fear, I know where my mind was and I can't go back there. It's too dark, too lonely. What if I get to the point where I want to end my life again? But I can't take them either, I will not take the chance of something bad happening to all the people I love.

I pull myself up from the ground. I stand for a while, looking in the direction of the camp. I can faintly see the moonlight reflecting on the river. Do I tell my mum? If do then Ingrid will never give my pills back. If I just follow her rules then maybe I'll get them back. I honestly think without them I'll be gone with in a matter of weeks. The fear that I'll be back to square one is the strongest feeling I've ever felt, and I've been through a lot so that's quite a big thing to say.

I have to do what she says, I'm going to keep it to myself and go without them. I can always get them back when we're home.

The next morning I wake up next to Jana, the others all seem to have gotten up already. She opens her eyes and looks right at me.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, for saying you were controlling me, that's not true, and for saying I'm not sure," she says, "you're the only thing I'm sure of." I feel so weak and defeated after last night. My ribs feel like they're been shattered into a thousand pieces. I just stare at her. "I love you."

"I love you too." She kisses my head. I want to badly to tell her what Ingrid and her followers did, but I'm scared of what Ingrid will do to me. Jana places her hand on my side, I flinch, it's painful to the touch.

"Are you okay?" She leans on her elbow.

"Yeah, I fell over when I was out walking last night it's nothing."

"Well let me see." She tries to pull up my top.

"Jana, it's fine, honestly it's nothing to worry about." I tug it back down.

"If it's nothing to worry about then why can't I see?" She yanks it up, the look on her face gives me enough of a hint to see how bad it is. I sit up slightly and look at the huge purple bruise that covers the entire right side of my lower ribcage. "Carys, this is bad. I'm getting Ceri." I grab her arm before she moves.

"Don't, it's fine. Just a little sensitive." I sit up properly and face her. If she tells, I'll never get those pills back, and Ingrid will probably kill me.

"You need to go to hospital, or Segolia, you could have broken ribs or internal bleeding or something you need help." She tries to get out of the tent but I pull her back a little too harshly.

"We'll go when we're home, I don't want to ruin this trip. Please Jana, don't make a fuss. I feel fine." Now I'm the one who's lying. I hate this. She looks me in the eye.

"Fine, but we're going the second we get back." How does she trust me this much?


	5. Chapter 5

**2 days later;**

 **Rhydian's POV**

Maddy and I help some of the pack bring back the meat they hunted at dawn. Maddy couldn't bring herself to actually go hunting, fair enough, it took me ages to kill my first rabbit, let alone the deer we're about to eat.

Back at camp, mum and dad seem to be a bit less stressed, they're sat with Carys, Jana and Bryn. Everyone howls at the sight of the meat. We share it between the entire pack and everyone sits down and starts to eat together. Carys seems to be a little down today.

"You okay?" I sit down next to her.

"Yes and I wish everyone would stop asking me that." She bites into her food.

"Woah, someone got out on the wrong side of the boulder this morning." She gives me the 'Carys' look. "I'm just joking, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing." She throws her food into my arms and storms off into the woods. I pass the food to Maddy and follow her.

"Hey, Carys, talk to me. Slow down." She starts running and I can't keep up. I chase her until she finally runs out of breath and has to stop. I stand in front of her. "What's going on?"

"I'm just tired okay."

"Not too tired to run 2 miles through the forest. Are you taking your pills?"

"Yes, God, just because I'm a little angry doesn't mean I'm off my meds. Get out of my way." She shoves past me and walks up the mountain.

"I'm not leaving you until you tell me what's going on." I follow her.

"I don't need baby sitting!" She turns around and shouts in my face. As she turns she grasps her side and she looks like she's in pain. "Look, I'm just stressed okay, with Alric wanting Jana to stay here and stuff."

"What's wrong with your side?"

"Rhydian, don't." She continues up the mountain. I grab her arm and spin her round. She yells out in pain.

"What is it? Don't tell me it's nothing." She tries to run off but I pull her back and sling her over my shoulder to take her back to camp.

"Put me down!" She screams and hits me.

"If you tell me what's wrong." I walk casually as she squirms on my shoulder.

"Fine. Just put me down now." I put her down and she tries to run again but I hold her still. She won't look at me. She's crying.

"Carys, I want to help you."

"Then let me go." She drops to the floor. I crouch to eye level with her. "I can't tell you. It'll all go wrong." She cries harder.

"Listen to me, nothing bad is going to happen, you're safe, you're with me." I hug her tight as she sobs into me. I look up and see Bryn walking towards us. "Bryn, go back to camp."

"Shall I tell mum?" He says. Carys turns around.

"No! Don't say anything to anyone, if they found out they'd kill me." She's having a breakdown again, she's acting crazy. Bryn looks scared, he's never scared. He runs back to camp, screaming for mum. "HE'S GOING TO RUIN IT. I'M DEAD. RHYDIAN, WE HAVE TO RUN, WE ALL HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" She tries to run off yet again but I tug her back and I practically drag her back to camp. As we walk through the camp, everyone stares at her. This isn't the first time they've seen her in this state. Mum and dad rush over, followed by Jana. Carys is kicking and screaming in my arms. "LET ME GO!"

"What happened?" Mum asks as she leads us all to the healing tent. She's panicking, even dad is terrified.

"I don't know, she said she's still taking her pills I don't think she is." I put her down on the ground and she tries to wriggle away. Mum holds her arms above her head and dad and I take her legs. Jana stands by the entrance in shock. Maddy tries to comfort her.

"I should have said something sooner." Jana says. "She's got really bad bruising on her ribs. Do you think something happened to cause her to relapse?" She crouches next to us. Mum rolls up her t-shirt to reveal the bruise. It looks so sore. Carys whimpers, now realising there's nothing she can do to stop us helping her.

"I didn't ask for it. I wanted to keep taking them. She won't let me." She says to mum. We let go of her and she stays laying down.

"Who do you mean Carys?" Dad says. "Do you think she means-"

"Rhiannon?" Mum interrupts dad.

"No, no not her. I promise I'm not like I was before." Carys sits up and hugs her knees, Jana puts her arm around her.

"You didn't fall did you? Who did that to you?" She says.

"I can't say." She cries into Jana's shoulder.

"If you're protecting someone-"

"I'm not. I just can't say okay? Please can we just leave it?" She looks up at everyone, her family and friends. People she can trust. Why can't she trust us with this? I storm out of the tent. I feel bad for being angry when she's in such a bad state but I can't help it. She should know by know that it's much better to tell people what's going on, how else are we supposed to help her? Well I guess she doesn't want our help.

Maddy follows me out and tries to calm me down, but I'm just so angry.

"Rhydian, I know it's really hard and it sucks that she can't tell us what's going on, but we have to be patient okay? You have to stay calm for your own sake as well," she grabs me by the arms and looks at me, "and for mine."

"I can't just sit back and wait for her to tell us, I need to find out who's doing this to her."

"No, Rhydian, leave it to your parents, they're the Alpha's. All you can do is be there for her, and keep her feet on the ground. Ceri will get the pills back and punish whoever's doing this."

"Maddy you don't get it! The longer we wait the sooner she's gonna lose it again." I'm panicking now, my hands are shaking and my eyes are stinging. "You didn't see her when it happened, it was horrible, I can't let that happen to her again. I won't let it happen." I feel like I'm losing it. She just looks at me with pity. "Maybe you shouldn't have come, maybe mum was right." I walk away from her and sit on an old tree stump.

I look around camp. Who could be doing this? She said it was woman, or a girl. The pack has grown a lot, there's so many people. I can't imagine who would want to hurt her. In fact I can't imagine why anyone would even dare to hurt the Alpha's daughter. My sister.


	6. Chapter 6

Jana's POV

"Please don't do this again." I say to Carys, my eyes are teary. But if I break down here, the pack will see me as weak.

"I'm trying to project you, all of you. Please leave it at that." She stands up, I join her.

"Protect us from what?" Bryn asks.

"Gerwyn, take Bryn to the river." Ceri says. They obey her immediately. "You too, Jana."

"You're not pushing me aside again!"

"Now, Jana." She folds her arms. I look at Carys. She folds her arms too and looks down at the ground. I hate how they can push me around like this. I love her.

"Fine." I storm out after Gerwyn and Bryn. Bryn has run off after the cubs, Gerwyn and Maddy are sat with Rhydian. I walk over.

"We will keep an eye out son, it's not your place to get involved."

"Not his place?" I chime in, I'm still angry. They all stand. "He's known her longer than you have, if anyone is going to figure this out it's us. You didn't even try to get her back did you?"

"Jana don't start this." Maddy tries to pull me aside.

"No, he needs to hear this." I push past her to get in Gerwyn's face. "If you really want to be her father, you'll find who's doing this and have them exiled. That's what an Alpha would do. No, that's what a dad would do."

"She's right dad." Rhydian comes to my side.

"Rhydian?"

"We can't wait this kind of thing out, we have to fix it now, before she gets worse. Yeah, maybe she's not hearing voices yet, but it's only a matter of time. I will not let her suffer while we sit back and keep an eye out. Whatever the hell that means. Come on Jana." He walks straight past Maddy. I follow.

"Rhydian, don't be like this! Rhydian!" Maddy shouts after him. He ignores her.

We walk along the river and sit down on a small ledge.

"Any ideas as to who's doing this?" He asks me. "You guys were out here for a while."

"Not a clue, I mean the pack all had a bit of problem with her, because of her paren- sorry, Rhiannon and Geraint, but I didn't think any of them would go this far." I scan my brain for some kind of clue.

"You'd be surprised what goes through a Wolfblood's mind when their pack is hurting. Maybe she did something to upset someone specifically, something she didn't realise. Can you think of anything she did?"

"Nope, nothing, she stayed out of everyone's way, she knows they're all stronger than she is. Well she thinks they are, she never really put it to the test. Until she got that bruise. When I get my paws on whoever did that to her, I don't know what I'll do." I clench my fists.

"I'm with you on that one. I'm so angry, and... scared." He goes quiet. He has that 'thinking about how much everything sucks' look on his face.

"Do you still see it?" He looks at me, he knows what I'm talking about. "When you close your eyes?" He nods. "Most nights, I barely get any sleep, thinking about her lying on the floor." I take a breath, I cry a little. "There was so much blood, all over her arms." I try to shake off the image in my mind.

"I usually don't sleep much either, but the other night I did. I hate myself for not waking up when she was taken from our tent."

"Whoever's doing this must have a reason to hate Carys, more of a reason than anyone else has. It obviously wasn't Gwyn, she's just a cub..." We go through all the females in the pack, trying to figure it out.

"What about Tove?" Rhydian says.

"Her and her little gang were giving us weird looks on the day we got here. They're a little bit bitchy, but they've never really acted on anything they've thought was wrong about someone." I think more about Tove, Beca and Ingrid. I remember once when I was little, I was friends with them. They stopped talking to me once they realised I was the Alpha's daughter, it was Meinir who made them ditch me, she was like a dictator as a teenager. They knew that if f they ever upset me, accidentally or on purpose, there would be repercussions. Awful ones. Ingrid and I were especially close, we both shared a curiosity for the human world, things have definitely changed. She's dead set against any human interaction. "Rhydian, I think I know who's done this." He doesn't hear me because Ceri, Gerwyn and Maddy are running towards us shouting.

"The cubs are hurt! You have to help us calm the pack down Jana, Alric's out hunting and they won't listen to us. They don't trust us." Ceri shouts, she's panicking and she's on the verge of tears.

"Okay, calm down Ceri, take us to the cubs." We run back to camp. They're in the tent where Carys sits hugging her knees and shaking with fear. She's holding Bryn's hand.

"He won't stop shaking." She says. "I told you this would happen." She whispers to herself.

Gwyn and Cadwr are sitting up, Cadwr is comforting his sister as she cries. They're both bleeding, covered in blood and cuts. Bryn's the same, only he's unconscious, with blood soaking his shirt. He's been bitten, in almost the exact same place that Carys is bruised.

I have to resume my position as Alpha. "Ceri, do everything you can, Maddy and Gerwyn will do anything you ask them to. You need to save him. Put your human emotions aside and save your cub. I will speak to the pack. Rhydian, with me." I look at Carys as we leave the tent, she's a wreck. Whoever's hurt Bryn is the same person who's been hurting Carys.

The pack are circling the camp, starting fights with each other, they want to find out who is harming our cubs just as much as I do.

"PACK." I shout and they go completely silent. I climb on to a large rock. "Our cubs are hurt, our Alpha isn't present. I understand your fury and your fear."

"We don't fear cowards who attack children!" Someone shouts.

"Fear is okay, you're allowed to be scared. It fuels us for something bigger than just keeping the pack safe, it fuels us for justice. I will find who hurt them, and I will do exactly what they did, if not worse, to them. We will get our vengeance!" They cheer for me. Rhydian tugs me back to whisper in my ear.

"You're not going to kill anyone are you?" I don't answer. It's all I want to do. Kill. I tug back away from him. I scan the pack for the girl I'm looking for. I don't see Ingrid, but I see Tove and Beca standing still looking around. They look so out of place in the blood-thirsty crowd. I silence the pack again.

"Tove, Beca." Everyone looks at them. They turn white as a sheet. "You will follow me."

I jump down from the rock and walk towards them as Rhydian follows. I lead them to one of the empty tents. They reluctantly enter. We stand in a triangle, Rhydian stands slightly behind me. He's suddenly lost all of his rage and is only full of worry for his family. Which I understand. But now that the integrity of the pack is at steak, I can't afford to worry.

"Where's Ingrid?" I ask. They look at each other. "Answer me."

"She's hunting. With Alric and Aran." Tove says.

"Yeah she's always had a thing for Aran. She was jealous that he liked you so much." Beca tries to strengthen the lie. But I can see right through them.

"Don't lie to her." Rhydian says.

"You're not Alpha any more. You don't have authority over us now." Tove is trying to scare me. It won't work.

"As soon as my father is Alpha again, I am the next in line, so I think you'll find that I do have authority over you. Until then, Rhydian is the heir, so he has authority. Take them to the Kronock." I say to Rhydian.

"No, no please." Beca says. Tove gives her a look. "I'm sorry Tove, I'm not going to the Kronock. I'm not strong enough. Ingrid's down by the river." I bolt out of the tent with Rhydian chasing after me.

"Jana, wait! What are you going to do? You can't just attack her!" He says. I stop in my tracks.

"It's your family she's attacking. I'm letting her get away with it. What's happened to you? 20 minutes ago you wanted exactly what I did."

"We're not murderers Jana. We can punish her. But I won't let you kill her."

"Kill who?" We turn around to see Ingrid standing there. She's holding Carys' pills. She's smirking. I feel my blood pumping around my body. Rhydian grabs my arm.

"Why?" I ask simply. I thought I would see her and kill her immediately. But I just feel sad, heartbroken. I tear up.

"Why what? Why did I give her what she deserved? I told her what would happen if she told anyone. When I heard her telling you and your misfit family what happened, I had to follow through on my promise. And now that you know, you're both next." She gets right up in my face. "I will kill every single one of you until there's no one left to corrupt this pack." I step back. I'm angry at myself for not wolfing out and scratching her eyes out, but I'm terrified. Rhydian steps in front of me. I back away even further.

"Give me those pills, now." I see his veins turn brown on the back of his neck. "Carys never hurt you. And the cubs... you're sick. If anyone needs pills it's you." She growls at him. "You don't scare me!" He screams in her face. They both start to transform. I try to run to them but I feel hands clasp around my arms. I look to either side of me and see Tove and Beca. They look guilty.

"LET ME GO." I shout and squirm. They wrestle me to the ground, hitting and kicking me. The last thing I see is a blurry image of Rhydian and Ingrid destroying each other. Everything goes black.


	7. Chapter 7

**Carys' POV**

I hold my brothers cold hand as he shakes and he flinches in his dreams. Mum is doing everything she can to clean the wound and stop the bleeding. Dad is handing her her healing remedies and Maddy his keeping his temperature at bay with a cold wet rag. Gwyn and Cadwr calmed down and dad sent them outside but I'm certain they're sat worrying about their friend. I'm sat worrying about Jana and Rhydian, something feels wrong.

Alric and Aran walk into the tent. "What happened?" He asks.

"Where's Ingrid?" Aran says. The mention of her name makes me shudder.

"Where's my daughter?" Alric says.

"You need to keep control of some of the people in this pack." I say to him. I'm so full of rage. They don't string together that I was talking about Ingrid. Thank God.

"Don't talk to me like that." He snarls at me.

"Alric I am still your Alpha. Do not talk to my daughter like that or it won't be you taking over this pack." He submits to Dad. I've never seen Alric submit to anyone. I stand and bring him to his feet again. "Carys you need to rest." Dad tries to make me sit down again.

"No, dad, I will take him to find Jana and Rhydian. Whatever it is they're doing out there, he deserves to know his cub is safe, and so do you. I want to know if they're okay." I argue back to him. I try to lead Alric and Aran out of the tent but dad pulls me back. I can immediately see in his eyes that he's just scared. He want doesn't me to suffer any more. But what he doesn't realise is that my suffering is affecting everyone in this pack. Not just him. It's about something bigger than just him. I tug away from him and leave with Alric and Aran.

I sniff around. I should be able to track them. "They went this way." I start to run but it's almost impossible when I'm in this much physical pain.

"Are you alright?" Aran asks me, coming to my side. I shake off the pain and nod my head.

"Come on." We run through the woods, following Jana and Rhydian's scent. I can smell other scents, ones I wish weren't anywhere near my pack. Tove, Beca and Ingrid.

I try my hardest to run without collapsing in the middle of nowhere. Once we get closer, Aran and Alric are able to pick up the scents too. That's when my instincts kick in. Something's really wrong. I come to an abrupt stop, trying to keep my balance. I feel dizzy and sick with worry. I know I'm too weak to fight Ingrid and her followers again, but if it comes to it, if she hurts them, then there's no way I'm standing on the side lines.

Alric has run so far out of view, but Aran has stopped and looks back at me. I take a few quick breaths and run to catch up to him.

"Carys, your weak, you should return to camp." He tries to stop me from running straight past him.

"No, I need to help them. Something's wrong." I shove him to the ground and follow the scent again. I hear him scramble to his feet, he runs in front of me, I thought he would just continue to run with me but he takes my by surprise when he practically throws me backwards. I land directly on my bruised area and hit my head on the ground. I didn't think it would be Aran I would have to fight. He storm over to me, pulling me up by the collar of my jacket. I yank his hand off of me and push him back again. "I'M FINE, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He grabs me by my hips and slings me over his shoulder, I kick and I scream.

I remember the time that Rhydian had to carry me to get me to Segolia, and earlier when he had to drag me to safety. He was keeping me away from danger, and that is exactly what Aran is trying to do now, but I'm the only one who can stop her. I can't tell Aran because she'll kill me. She is underestimated in strength in this pack. She could take Aran, Alric, anyone who came at her. I suppose it makes sense, Jana said her sister was strong too, must run in their family.

He carries me back to camp and I don't stop screaming the whole way. Until I realise that everyone will think I'm losing my mind already. I stop as soon as I see the healing tent. He puts me down and I push him away one last time. He's about to retaliate but I throw my hands up in surrender. I angrily walk back to the tent where mum, dad and are standing staring at me. They think I've lost it again. I haven't. At least, I don't think I have.

"He won't let me help them." Aran runs back off in the direction of Jana and Rhydian. "He says I'm too weak."

"You are too weak, Cariad. You should be resting." She tries to stroke my head but I jerk away quickly.

"I'm fine, I'm not relapsing, I know that's what you think, and yeah okay I'm not making it very believable by acting like this, but you know what it's like when the people you love are in danger, you would act the same way. I'm terrified mum." She starts to cry. "I'm sorry, for everything." I start to cry.

"Oh Cariad, it's not your fault, none of this was your fault. Okay?" She pulls me in for a hug. I'm quite a lot smaller than her so I can hear her heart beat. It helps me to realise that no matter what I say or do, my family are here for me. "I know you want to help them, so do we, the only way we can make sure everyone stays safe is if you tell us who's doing this." She cradles me as I sob.

"I can't!" I cry. "I just can't!" I have to be here for them too, and this is the only way I know how. Maddy puts an arm around me.

"Shh, Carys, everything will be okay, just you wait and see." Mum takes my hand and leads me into the tent. I take a minute to bring myself to look at Bryn, but eventually I do, and he's sat up, trying to smile at me, but he's in pain.

"Bryn!" I drop to my knees and hug him, I realise it was a little too tight as he flinches away. "Did she do this?" I whisper to him. Praying he knows who I mean, so I don't have to say it in front of mum and dad. He just looks at me, he's so full of fear, I've never seen him this scared before. He's always so full of fire. "Bryn, tell me who hurt you."

"Only if you tell me who hurt you first." I want so badly to scream it at the top of my lungs, but I can't, she heard us when my family tried to get it out of me, I didn't even tell them and she still hurt Bryn and the cubs, if her, Beca or Tove heard me say anything, we'd all be for it. I won't let anyone else get hurt.

I process my thoughts. I have to get to Jana and Rhydian. She will hurt them, I know she will. That's the most awful way she can break me, and she knows that. "Bryn, if it was Ingrid you have to-"

"Ingrid?" Maddy says. I breathe heavily, trying not to break down. "Carys you should have said before!"

"You have to tell me Bryn." He nods. I look up at mum and dad.

"Ingrid took your pills, and hurt you and your brother? Dad asks. I nod at him. They stare at me in shock. I see this as my chance to make a break for it. I run out of the back of the tent and follow the scent. "Carys!" Dad runs out after me, but he's gotten slower and I can run much faster than he ever could, even in all of this pain. Maddy tries to run after me but even she can't catch up.

I tear through the woods, praying that they've managed to hold their own against her. I look through the trees and see a faint glow of red hair on the ground, Jana's lying on the ground. As I get closer and faster I see Rhydian and Ingrid fighting, Jana stays completely still on the ground. Alric and Aran are challenging Tove and Beca. They all transform into wolves. They fight and fight and fight until I can't stand it any more.

"STOP!" I scream as I reach the clearing where they're having it out. Rhydian transforms back and kicked Ingrid into Tove and Beca and they all fall into a pile. They transform back. I run right to Jana's side. She still feels warm which is a good sign. "Jana, wake up!" Ingrid brushes herself off and charges to me. Alric, Aran and Rhydian all try and hold her off but she squirms away from them and reaches me, knocking me on my back. She throws punches at me left and right.

"I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU TOLD." She knees me in my ribs. I cough up blood.

"Carys!" I hear Jana's voice and look over to see that Alric and managed to get her up. Aran and Rhydian are fighting with Tove and Beca. It's a fair fight between them, but me against Ingrid, it's bound to end in blood. Ingrid wraps her hands around my throat just as I try to yell out Jana's name. She screams for me again. I choke on Ingrid's force. Everything starts to blur and darken. If I had just said it was her in the first place then maybe the pack could have killed her before all of this. This is how it's going to end. With one mistake. One stupid mistake.


	8. Chapter 8

**The next day.**

 **Rhydian's POV**

Maddy and my parents are the only ones who came out of this situation unharmed. Bryn's still unwell, it came out that Ingrid had been poisoning him since the first night, because she knew no one would see it coming. Jana's got a pretty nasty concussion. The cut's disappeared but the moon can't heal everything. Carys has bruising all over her neck, she can barely move it. She's got her pills back though, so that's one thing. As for me, I broke my arm, normally the moon would heal that but it's pretty big fracture. That's what Mum said anyway. We were all really lucky that Tove and Beca are scared of my parents, as soon as they arrived with some of the pack yesterday, they stopped fighting and we managed to get Ingrid off of Carys.

We haven't been home yet. Mum keeps trying to make us but Carys and Jana want to stay to make sure Alric exile's the lot of them, so do I.

Alric is now officially Alpha again, everyone's okay with that. He did everything he could to protect the cubs of this pack once he realised what was at stake.

Maddy grabs my hand, taking me by surprise. I was standing by the river, not really paying attention to my surroundings.

"The hearing's about to start, you still want to go? Because we don't have to, I'm sure your parents will tell us about it after." We walk back towards camp.

"Yeah, I think we should. I want to see them go down for what they did, plus Carys is going and we need to be there to support her, she might have to like, testify or whatever, to Alric in front of the majority of the pack. He might want us to speak to, the more we can do to help get justice, the better." I kiss her and put my arm around her. "I'm sorry about our fight, I didn't mean what I said."

"It's okay, you were upset, I understand."

Everyone is gathering around the meeting place. I think back to the time I was the one being sentenced, I was only at the Kronock for a couple of hours but I know how horrible it is, and I've been a lone wolf before, it's just as bad. But I don't feel any sorrow for evil.

The pack are hyped up and ready to see some justice. Maddy and I stand slightly back with Carys, Jana and Bryn. Mum and dad are crouched at the front. Everyone is chanting and cheering away as Alric walks over with Aran. Aran has Beca and Tove by their collars, their arms are tied behind their backs with rags. He kicks them to the ground. The crowd cheers again, but we just watch them try to keep their dignity. They get up on their knees. They're crying.

Alric brings everyone to silence, we can now here them whimpering away. "No need to explain why you're here. You've both admitted to your crimes. You both been revoked of the privilege to defend yourselves."

We hear an array of people shouting 'Exile' and 'Kronock' and even 'Kill', but even Alric has become better than murder now. He shuts them up. He paces back and forth, thinking very carefully about how to deal with them. I know what he's thinking; they're strong, they could be useful in the future, but does he want to keep Wolfbloods around that will turn on their own pack. Carys nestles her head into Jana and she takes my hand. When Alric turns to face us, she squeezes my hand. She's terrified of the tiny chance he might let them off.

"I sentence you both to the Kronock, for 2 weeks." Some of the crowd cheer, some protest. Carys just cries. I don't think she wants any bad to come to anyone, ever, she's just that kind of person. Beca breaks down. She screams. "No one is to talk to them, or bring them food or water, if they sky wills it they will drink rain!" The crowd cheer again. "If they survive, we will gather to decide their fate once more."

Aran pulls her and Tove off of the ground. Tove cooperates, she doesn't look at anyone, not even Beca. Beca screams even more. They come past us. Carys backs away from them.

"Carys! I'm sorry! Please don't let him take me there, I can't! I can't!" She's hysterical. I walk right up to her and get in her face.

"So you can torture my sister for being tame, but you're scared of the Kronock? You call yourself a Wolfblood." I growl in her face and she cowers away from me. I feel no sorrow for her, not after all of this.

"Rhydian leave it." Carys yanks me back. "I don't need protecting any more, they'll get what's coming to them."

Aran pulls the girls off into the woods to tie them to the Kronock. Alric comes over to us.

"Are you alright Carys?" He's grown rather protective of her.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just want to get this over with."

"You didn't have to come you know, we only came to support you." I say.

"I know I didn't have to but I wanted to see it for myself, I want to see you punish her." At that moment Aran comes back with Ingrid tied up. She looks worn down. She was sent the Kronock for the night until the trial began. If she wasn't mental before, she is now. She doesn't take her eyes off Carys, who can't take her eyes off of the ground. Aran drags Ingrid along.

"I think it's safe to say that this was attempted murder." Alric says. Everyone goes crazy, some people have to hold other people back from attacking Ingrid. I could kill her right now. But she's strong, she could kill me. I look back at Carys, Jana's holding her, her head buried in Jana's Auburn hair. I can hear her crying. Ingrid's ruined her whole recovery process.

"Kill!" Mum shouts. I didn't expect her to want her dead, but I agree, so I can't judge. I don't say anything. I see dad whisper to mum, calming her down. She's red with fury. The crowd are mixed between shouting 'Kill' and 'Exile' again. The majority want her dead. Some of them are convincing others to vote to kill. I'm not exactly surprised by this, it's a good thing that they're all on the same page. It's hard for me to admit that it's wrong to want someone dead, but anyone in this situation would feel this way. As far as I know.

"I did it for the pack!" Ingrid shouts. The crowd silences, Carys lifts her head off of Jana's shoulder and looks slowly up at her. "She's too human." She's a clone of the man that Alric used to be, and he can see that. He looks at me with regret in his eyes. He used to fear his humanity. Now the only thing he fears is losing his pack, his family, his daughter. It's so quiet out here, you could hear a pin drop. "She's a disgrace to our kind, and you're letting her come in here and taint our pack. Just like Rhydian and Jana did. Yet you keep bringing them back."

"I'm done." Carys says, she walks off in anger back to camp. Jana tries to follow her. "I'm fine, Jana."

"That's right, run away!" Ingrid shouts at her, but she doesn't even look back. Aran kicks her to the ground. I walk past the crowd and stand over Ingrid.

"She didn't do anything to you, or this pack. Your problem with her has nothing to do with her phone or her pills does it?" She looks at the ground in front of her. That's probably the first time has got her to shut up. I look back at Maddy and Jana. They want answers. We all do. I walk back over to them.

"If I didn't have to follow the rules of this pack, I'd string you up and have you killed, but that's not the case," He pauses with a sigh, "Exile!" The pack cheer and crowd around her. Leaving Alric and my parents watching as they carry her off into the distance. Usually they just send off the wrong-doer right then and there, but I think everyone wants to make sure she's really gone. I can hear her screaming. Now all any of can think about is telling Carys that it's over.


	9. Chapter 9

**Jana's POV**

Maddy and Rhydian head over to talk to Ceri and Gerwyn, I turn around to follow Carys, I know she wants to be alone but I don't. I walk through the camp, but she's gone past it. She's sat against a tree throwing rocks into the river.

"She's been exiled. It's over." I say, sitting down next to her. She throws another rock.

"It's never really over though is it? She's a lone wolf now, she could easily track us back to Stoney Bridge."

"Why would she do that? After everything it would be pretty pointless for her."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a piece of torn up paper. She unfolds it and stares at the page.

"I went through her stuff, I don't know why, I just did. She doesn't have a lot, only a few handmade weapons, and some pencils that I think she must have stolen from Rhydian last time he was here, and this." She hands me the paper.

"It's a letter?"

"Read it." I look at the page, everything is written very badly, it reminds me of how I used to write before I got to Bradlington high.

 _Dear Carys,_

 _You may think I'm brave, that I could kill anything that comes my way, that I'm strong enough to fight off feelings. Yes, I am brave on strong when it comes to being a wolf, but when it comes to my humanity, I'm a coward. I try to hard to not let you see, or any of your tame friends, but I can't contain what I'm feeling for you. I hate myself for feeling like this towards a tame. If you ever read this, and I would die if you did, then you'll know that I am so sorry for how I've been treating you, I'm just scared. I'm terrified. I will never tell you how I feel. I know not much of love, but I'm almost certain that this is it._

 _Ingrid_

I can't believe what I'm reading.

"She felt something for me and now she's been sent off to die alone. She felt something human that she was to ashamed to talk about. And It's all my fault." She throws a handful of rocks as hard as she can and hugs her knees, she cries.

"Hey, don't talk like that, she was an awful person, her feelings don't excuse what she did okay? Do not blame yourself again." I lift her face up and wipe her tears away.

"All I can do is blame myself, it is my fault."

"Look, Carys, I'm not saying she deserves to die, no one does, but she has to take the punishment and in her case it's being exiled. She'll be fine, she said herself that's she's strong and brave. Heck, if Bryn can survive for as long as he did and I'm sure Ingrid will be just fine." It feels so wrong talking about Ingrid as if we should all be worried about her, but I'm worried about Carys, as per usual. I look down at the letter again, I hand it to Carys. She stares at it for a minute, then scrunches it up and throws into the river. We sit and watch it get carried down the stream until it's pulled under.

"It's over." I hold her as she gathers herself. "We're gonna go home tonight, and tomorrow you can go see Dr. Stevens and tell him everything. It's all going to go back to normal. We'll go back to school and finish our GCSEs then we can talk about our future."

"Our future? So you're going to stay in the tame world?"

"Well, yeah, I love you and I love the tame life. I grew up in the wild, but I found everything I'd been missing my whole life when I came to Stoney Bridge, including you." She suddenly pulls me in for the most passionate kiss we've had for a while. "And if you're scared of her coming back, or you're scared of anything, you just have to talk to me, or Rhydian or your mum or anyone! We're all here for you, we're here for each other. That's what it means to be a pack." We hear the sound of Ceri's voice calling Carys and I. We stand up and come out from behind the tree and head towards her. The second they're eyes meet Carys starts crying again. She cries in her mothers arms.

"I just want to go home." She mumbles.

"I know Cariad. We're heading off soon." She strokes her hair. We walk back to camp and I let Carys have some time alone with her parents, I walk over to Bryn, Rhydian and Maddy.

"Is she alright?" Maddy asks me.

"She will be." I look back at her. "It's been a hard week for all of us."

"I'll be the first one to say, I'm looking forward to getting back to History with Jeffries." Rhydian says, before we all smell something. "Is that..." He sniffs the air.

"A human?" Maddy says.

"We have to get everyone out of here, if the pack smell it, they'll fly off the handle." Rhydian says. Maddy and Rhydian try to distract everyone away from the camp saying they've found something to hunt. I see Carys come out of the tent. She can smell it too. She runs to me, at least that's what I thought until she bolts past me. I look back to see Ceri with a confused and concerned look on her face. I run after Carys through the woods following the scent. She's fast. I see her come to a stop in front of another figure, it's a girl, about our age. I try and listen to what they're saying but they don't seem to be speaking. They're just looking at each other. I come to a stop a few feet away from her.

"What are you doing here?" Carys says. She's angry. I'm worried she'll let out her inner wolf in front of this human.

"Carys stay calm." I say.

"So this is her?" The girl says, she's Welsh, she talks just like Carys does. "That's the girl?"

"You can't be here." Carys clenches her fists. Her veins start to show. I come to her side and take her hand; my usual technique for calming her down.

"Me? You're the one living in the middle of a forest." I still don't know who this girl is, and how on earth she managed to find Carys out here. Carys stares her down.

"I'm Jana." I extend my hand, she just looks at it.

"I know who you are." She looks back at Carys.

"Jana, this is Anwen. From back in Cardiff." Anwen. Ex-girlfriend Anwen. I don't care that Carys' ex is clearly over protective and clingy, I care that this is probably bringing up horrible memories for Carys. Memories of home, and her so called 'parents'. What do I do? We can't bring her back to camp, she'll be eaten alive. "Why are you here?" Carys asks.

"I came to find you, I was worried." She puts her hand on Carys arm. I feel so uncomfortable. Carys pulls away and growls. I tug on her arm to get her to stop. The last thing we need is the secret coming out. "You didn't answer any of my calls."

"My phone is broken, plus there's barely any signal out here anyway. You need to forget about me, Anwen, move on with your life." She holds my hand proudly. "How did you even find me?" Anwen looks to the ground, she's hiding something. "Anwen?"

"I had your phone on GPS, and it went dead, at first I figured it had just died but it didn't come back on, it had been days, and everyone knows you can't live without your phone. I was scared for you."

"You did what?" She tenses up.

"I'm sorry it was stupid I know."

"You've been stalking me all this time, it's not stupid Anwen, it's creepy." Her veins begin to appear. I spin her away from Anwen and stand by her, showing her her arms. She panics but can't control her wolf.

"Carys," I whisper, "Go back to camp, tell Rhydian." She nods and runs off.

"Carys?" Anwen shouts after her. She looks shocked as she sees how fast Carys can run.

"She's got a lot going on and you showing up is the last thing she needs." I say folding my arms, blocking her view.

"Don't talk like you know her, I grew up with her."

"Yet I'm the one she wants, she loves me, and I love her too. Do yourself a favour and turn around, before you hurt her any more than she already has been." I know she probably won't listen to me, but I need to put my foot down.

"Why should I listen to you?" I try my hardest not to transform and pounce on her, but that would only upset Carys more.

"Because I know what's best for her, all you ever did was drive her away."

"She was keeping secrets from me, she still is." She raises her voice. "I bet she's keeping things from you too."

"As a matter of fact she's not, she's a different person now, she's brave, honest and strong. All the things she wasn't when she was with you." I smell Rhydian coming up behind us. "Rhydian, this is Anwen." It suddenly comes to me that Anwen doesn't know that Rhydian is Carys' brother, so I don't mention it.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N I know that this should technically be Carys' POV but the story flows a lot better if Rhydian comes in here, plus I want the story to with Carys' POV because she is the protagonist of course.**_

 **Rhydian's POV**

"Anwen? As in-"

"Carys' gir- ex-girlfriend." Anwen says. I kind of look her up and down and give her an unenthusiastic smile.

"Anwen, can you give us a second?" I don't wait for a reply before I tug Jana away. "What's going on? Carys is freaking out, she's run off, Maddy's following her."

"She's stressed, no surprise. As long as Maddy's with her she'll be fine." I'm worried but Carys clearly wants space right now. We walk back to Anwen.

"Let me speak to her."

"No, you shouldn't be here, go home Anwen. I'll get her to call you or something," I lie, "Now is a really bad time." I say, tugging Jana away again. I look over my shoulder, Anwen just stands there staring at us. We pick up our pace to a sprint until we're out of her sight and back at camp.

The pack seem a bit irritated at me, probably for sending them on a short wild goose chase. We ignore them and make our way to mum.

"Where's dad?" I ask.

"He's gone after Carys with Maddy. Can someone please explain what's going on?" She says.

"This girl that Carys used to, like date, came here. We've made her leave now, but Carys isn't happy, obviously. She'd basically been stalking her since she left Cardiff." Jana says.

"We need to go home, like ASAP." I make my way to the tent to get Bryn

"Rhydian, wait, we can't go yet." I ignore as I continue into the tent, mum and Jana follow me. I see Bryn lying down, he looks worse than he did before. He's covered in sweat and his wound has bled more. He's worn down. One of the pack healers is at his side, keeping him cool with a wet flannel. "He's getting worse, he can't make the walk back, not yet anyway. He needs rest."

I try to gather my thoughts.

"I'll carry him, me and dad, we'll both carry him."

"I'll help too," Jana adds, "Ceri, we can't stay here, it's getting to all of us."

"He can't make it, it's too much for him. There's no fighting me on this. Now, go help your dad and Maddy find Carys, calm her down as much as you can and bring her to me." She's deadly serious. Jana and I do as she says.

We head deeper into the woods, following dad, Maddy and Carys' scents.

"What if I took Carys home and you stay here until Bryn's better?" Jana asks.

"I mean, you could ask mum, but I don't think we should be split up, and I think mum would agree. Plus Carys needs all of us right now. We need to stay together. Bryn will get better and we'll be able to go home soon."

We pick up our face and we find ourselves heading up the mountain, the trees get further and further apart until there's none, and the slope gets steeper, we can almost touch the clouds. We get higher and higher and see three foggy figures at the top. Carys is crying. Maddy goes to her side and takes her hand. Dad stands back, unsure of what to do. I join him and Jana joins Maddy and Carys.

"I just need to get out of here!" She screams, and drops to the floor, burying her face in her hands. "I know, and we can as soon as Bryn's better, he's in the wars right now, we have to stay and support each other." Maddy says.

"All of this is just stuff, think about it this way, everything that's going on right now won't matter in 10 years." Jana kneels at her side.

"I can't stand to see her like this, especially when Bryn's in such a bad way." Dad says to me, making sure Carys doesn't hear.

"He'll get better, so will Carys." I reply.

"So you think this is her PTSS and Psychosis?" He asks.

"I don't know, she only went a few days with out her pills, and she got them back, but maybe they're just not strong enough any more. But she could just be stressed and tired. It's been a long week. I don't think we should jump to any conclusions just yet."

"Come back to camp Love, I'm here." Dad says, walking towards her. She suddenly pushes Jana and Maddy back, causing dad to stop in his tracks.

"Leave me alone." She scoots back. I worry for a moment that maybe dad was right, maybe the pills stopped working. "I just need to be alone."

"Bryn's not well, he needs you. You're his big sister." Dad says, walking closer to her. She looks up at him scared. "Come on Carys." He hold out his hand. She takes a minute, but eventually she lets him help her up. "We all have to stay strong right now, we're not going to let little problems tear this pack apart."

"I'm sorry." She says hugging him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." She turns to me and give me a hug too. "Come on lets go back to camp and sort everything out." I take her hand and she lets us lead her back to camp.

Once we get back to camp, dad, Carys and I go in to the tent to see Bryn while Maddy and Jana decide to go and hunt, even though it still makes Maddy sick. But it's nice that she cares so much about my family that she would go and find red meat for Bryn.

Bryn's not unconscious, but he's not quite concious either. Carys takes over from the healer and keeps him cool with a rag. I help mum, who is still trying to stop the bleeding. It's slowed down but it's pretty thin.

"Maybe he needs human medicine? It worked for me, I know it's a different situation but it might do the trick, if the wound is too much for the moon to heal." Carys says, she seems to have gathered herself a little bit.

"There's something you both should know, I've told your father." I feel the blood drain from my face with fear, she's going to tell us he's dying. "There's a poisonous thorn in the wound, it looks like it was put there intentionally."

"Well, can't you just pull it out? If you can see it surely it's not that deep." I say.

"It's very small and if it moves any more it will only release more poison. It's from a very rare plant called Llwyn Marwolaeth." She starts to use some of her healing remedies on Bryn, taking it slow and keeping calm.

"So what are we going to do? Carys could be right about human medicine." I add.

"I think it could work, but we can't get him back in this state." She says.

"We need a phone, we could call Segolia."

"Mine was destroyed, the nearest phone for miles would be-" A look comes across her face.

"What is it Carys?" Mum asks.

"Anwen has a phone. She can't be that far yet, if I run I can catch up to her." She looks scared.

"I'll come with you, we'll save him mum." She doesn't have the chance to argue as we bolt past her and dad and out in the path of Anwen, we go in the general direction that she was going until Carys manages to pick up her scent, eventually I pick it up too. Carys speeds ahead of me.

"Slow down, she can't be far." It's getting dark out.

"I can see her Rhydian!" I squint my eyes and manage to spot her too. I start sprinting to catch up to Carys but she suddenly stops. "Wait." She pulls me behind a tree.

"What?" I look back to Anwen, then Carys points to a tree a few feet away from Anwen, Ingrid is stood there. "Ingrid? She'll hurt her." My suspicions are confirmed as we watch Ingrid pounce on Anwen transforming mid-leap, knocking her to the ground, we hear Anwen scream. We instantly bolt in their direction again, impulsivley we transform into wolves, working as a team to knock Ingrid off of Anwen. Anwen scrambles backwards and sits terrified against a tree. Ingrid stands on her paws. She goes for Carys who fights her off, I approach Ingrid, trying to scare her away. She growls back. I leap at her, biting her front right arm. She moans and runs off into the distance with some what of a limp.

Neither Carys or I take a second to think before transforming back into human form. We look at each other, then back at Anwen, who's breathing fast and heavily, with a confused and frightened look on her face.

"Anwen..." Carys says.

"Stay away from me!" Anwen gathers her things in a rush and shakily stands up. "You're a freak! You both are! This is what you've been hiding from me? No, no, it's not real, I'm going crazy."

"Okay, stay calm Anwen, you're not losing your mind." I say, keeping my distance. Anwen stares at Carys as if she's a ghost.

"So what? You're Werewolves?"

"I'm a Wolfblood, so is my brother."

"Wait what? Brother?" She paces. "This isn't happening I really am nuts." She whispers to herself.

"I met him when I moved here, we didn't know we were related until a few months ago and then... when my dad died, I discovered that he wasn't really my dad and my mum wasn't my mum either, Rhydian's parents are my parents, I have a little brother and a half sister too."

"So you're all Werewolves?"

"Wolfbloods, and yes." I correct her and she gives me evils.

"Look none of this is important, we need to use your phone, our brother is really sick, too sick to move, he needs human medicine and there's only one place we can get it. Please Anwen."

Anwen takes a moment to take in all this new information, but eventually hands Carys her phone who tries her hardest to remember the Segolia number, trying different combinations.

"Here," I take the phone, "Maybe I can try Maddy's house, the Smiths can call Segolia and they'll have someone out here soon." I dial the familiar number and after 3 rings, Daniel picks up.

"Mr. Smith? It's Rhydian, we need you to call Segolia, Bryn's in a bad way, we can't get him back without hurting him more, can you get them to send someone?"

"Oh, Rhydian, uh yes, I can do that - Emma, it's Rhydian, call Segolia now - Emma's calling now, where are you?"

"Where are we? Carys?" She shrugs. "Wait, Anwen, you said you had GPS on your phone, are you able to get coordinates?" She nods and takes the phone from me, putting Daniel on speaker phone, she opens her weird app and manages to find the coordinates.

"Good idea Rhydian, text me the coordinates and I can let Segolia know." Anwen texts the long number to him. "Okay, I've got them." He says the number to Emma. After a few minutes and being able to hear the muffled conversation that Emma is having with Segolia, he finally replies. "They're sending a medical team now, best of luck to all of you." He hangs up.

"Now all we can do is wait." Carys says, she's about to cry, so I hug her, hiding her face from Anwen. I know that she wouldn't want to show her emotions to Anwen any more than she already has. She pulls away, she's collected herself.

"Thank you for your help Anwen."

"Of course, anything to help."

"You can't tell anyone what we are." She becomes stern. "You have no idea what it could mean for or kind if the secret gets out."

"Well you're not very good at hiding it, you changed right in front of me." Anwen folds her arms.

"Hey, we saved your life, she would have killed you." I raise my voice slightly.

"How do I know you won't hurt me? You're the same as that thing. Killers." She doesn't seem scared, she pushing her luck.

"We're not all like her, most of us are kind, loving." Carys says. "People like her give the rest of us a bad name. We're not monsters, we're people too. Just please don't tell anyone, people will start experimenting on us, that could mean death."

"Okay, fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you." I reply.

"I guess I'll leave then."

"I'm sorry that it has to be like this, some of the pack aren't accustomed to humans, it wouldn't go well for you."

"So you live in a forest now?"

"No, no I still live in Stoney Bridge, Jana's dad is the Alpha of this pack so we visit sometimes."

"I'm going to pretend I know what the means and get out of your hair, or... fur I suppose."

"Thank you, Anwen, and thanks for your phone, my family are grateful."

Anwen goes in for a hug but Carys takes a step back and extends her hand.

"Right, no hugging, sorry, it's easy to get back into old habits." They shake hands.

"Thanks again, and- you don't need me, you can make it on your own. I know you." She smiles at Anwen, a real smile. Anwen smiles back, gathers her things, and goes off into the wild on her own. Carys and I go back to camp. It's almost pitch black out now, the moonlight on the river is our only source of light. Carys goes to the healing tent to tell mum and dad that Segolia have sent a team out, and I go to our tent where Maddy and Jana are both sound asleep, until they smell me that is

"Hey, did you get to a phone? Ceri told us you went after Anwen." Maddy says, giving me a kiss.

"Where's Carys?" Jana says rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"She's gone to see Bryn, yeah we managed to get hold of Segolia thanks to the Smiths, they've sent a med team out to help Bryn." Jana sits up properly. "She said she'll be in to say goodnight but me and her are going to spend the night with Bryn, in case the team arrive tonight. Night Mads," I give her a kiss, "Night Jana." I leave them too sleep and head to Bryn's tent.


	11. Chapter 11

Carys' POV

After telling mum and dad about Segolia coming, I make my way to our tent to say goodnight to Jana, Rhydian and I are staying with Bryn tonight

"Jana?" I poke my head through the tent making sure they're not asleep yet. Maddy and Jana are both sat up talking. Jana sees me and give me a tight hug.

"I don't want to let you go." I've barely paid any attention to her feelings this whole time, she must be so scared. I stroke her hair and kiss her head.

"Everything's going to get better now, I'm here, I'm here." It feels like the roles have reversed. "I love you."

"I love you too." We kiss, passionately. Until Maddy mocks a gagging sound and we laugh out of our kiss.

"If I wasn't full before I am now." She says.

"I'll see you in the morning, hopefully we can finally go home." Jana says. I give her one last little kiss goodnight and head back to Bryn.

Mum, dad and Alric are sat a few feet away from the tent, probably talking about the pack and it's future, mum and dad are doing everything they can to make sure Alric doesn't go off the rails again. It's like they've got another kid.

Inside the tent Rhydian and Bryn are already asleep, Bryn doesn't look any better, but he doesn't look worse, which hopefully is a good sign. I curl up next to Bryn and shut my eyes. Within minutes I'm asleep.

I wake up to what sounds like a giant chainsaw and the pack freaking out. Rhydian isn't next to me. Bryn's still asleep. I rush out of the tent and immediately I look up to the sky to see a jet black helicopter with something long hanging off of it, there's a man on the long rope. Alric is supposed to be keeping the pack calm but even he's freaking out. Mum tries to shut everyone up, it takes some time but it works. Jana runs to my side.

"Is that Segolia?" I ask. I have to shout because it's so loud.

"I think so."

We hear a loud thundering voice come from the man on the rope. "We're looking for Bryn." He's using a megaphone.

"He's in here!" I shout. The man gives a thumbs up to the person in the helicopter.

The long rope begins to lower and we realise there is some kind of bed on the bottom of the rope. I thought this only happened in movies. The man climbs down and the helicopter hovers.

"Where is he?" The man ask, he's not phased by the pack one bit. My family and I lead him to Bryn. He brings a stretcher with him. "Take that side of him." He says to dad who complies. They gently move him from his make-do bed onto the stretcher. Bryn winces, causing the rest of us to flinch. Mum and I walk with him at his had, still using the cloth to bring his temperature down. Aran and Alric come to help them lift Bryn on to the slightly high up air bed. They get him in place and the man secures him. "We can take one person up with us." He says.

"Mum, you should go." Rhydian says. She just sort of nods and lets the man secure her in place too. He secures himself and give another thumbs up to the man in the helicopter and they begin to rise. The pack growl as their former Alpha and one of her successors are being taken away. Everyone watches as they are pulled into the helicopter and the door shuts, the fly higher and higher and then off in the general direction of home.

"What do we do now?" I ask dad.

"We can go, if we run for a little while, we can make it make by lunchtime." He says.

We all pretty much leave then and there, only Jana takes a short moment to say goodbye to her dad and Aran.

We run for a little while and I'm I'm the first one to admit I need a break, we've been running for half an hour. Jana hangs back with me and the others decide to keep running.

"He will be okay won't he? To humans, this is just a minor injury with all the medicine they have lying around."

"Yeah, he'll be back to normal in no time. Although, I don't think he'll be okay to go back to school tomorrow." Jana says.

"School, right. I completely forgot about that."

"At least you didn't forget the reading assignment." My eyes widen. "You forgot about the reading assignment didn't you." I face palm. "Maybe Jeffries will let you off if you explain what happened?"

"Jana, you know I hate special treatment, I'll just have to do it all tonight, I read half of the book before we went to Norway for that full moon, I guess I just forgot because we had such an amazing time. I'm surprised Shannon didn't remind me about it."

"That's because you told her to stop reminding you, because you promised you'd have it done."

"Damn, I guess I forgot about that too."

After about 10 minutes of walking some more, we pick up our pace and run back. We arrive in the village and manage to just about make the only bus that comes through this village, which dad, Rhydian and Maddy are on too. I sit down next to dad. He's been so weird this trip.

"Did you go home and get your phone?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I just got off the phone with Ava, she was worried anyway so she's almost in the city, she's going to meet us at Segolia." He just seems sad.

"What's wrong?" I take his hand.

"Oh nothing, love, you know how it is."

"Tell me?" I look at him, forcing him to look at me too.

He sighs. "I'm a rubbish father to you and your brothers. I don't know how to help."

"Hey, don't say that, you're a great dad. You've barely left Bryn's side. You helped me on the mountain, you've always been there for me."

"Not always, I missed most of your life, and both of your brothers."

"That's not your fault, it's no one's fault, that's all in the past. What matters now is the future, okay?"

"Oh Carys, you and the boys mean the world to me." He puts his arm around me and kisses me head. I love how close we've become. It does make me reminisce back to old time with Geraint, but those memories seem tainted now. Like I said, what matters now is the future, I can make new memories.

We get off the bus by Segolia and run to the doors where Ava is waiting for us. She hugs Rhydian and I and shakes dad's hand. We make our way inside, but Segolia has a new security team so they don't recognise us.

"We need to get to the medical wing, our little brother is in there."

"Names." The security guard is big and quite intimidating, but I get fed up with waiting and push past him to the reception desk and beg the lady to let us in.

"Family only." The rest of my family push past the guard and we head to the lift, I look back at Maddy and Jana. I watch as they try to get past the guard, saying they know Shannon. We get in the lift and go up to see Bryn.

Dr. Whitewood is there as we reach the doors.

"He's a very resilient young lad." She leads us to the room.

I realise that this is the room I spent months in. The room I battled my demons in. I stop outside the room as the others go in, they don't notice I don't follow. I stand for a moment. Analysing everything. The metal on the door, which is cleaner, and shinier since I last saw it. I look to the floor on my left. There used to be a tiny blood stain on the floor, I used to look at it every time I left my room for an appointment and every time I went back in. I felt that if it was there it meant that I wasn't losing myself, I wasn't changing, I wasn't disappearing, like that little blood stain. It's gone now. Symbolism much? This past week I haven't felt more like I'm losing myself since I left hospital.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see Shannon.

"Shan!" I hug her. "I missed you."

"I missed you too Carys, why aren't you going in? He's doing fine." She says, then she sees my face when I look down at the stain. "Oh, it's the same room."

"Yep."

"You know, it's just a room. It only means something if you let it, so don't." I nod. "I have to get back up to the lab, did Maddy come back with you?"

"Uh yeah, her and Jana are downstairs trying to get in, what's with the new security?"

"Oh it's the new boss, she's a bit, cautious." Shan gives me a look and heads off to get Maddy and Jana into the building.

I can hear my family talking on the other side of the door, I try to decipher whether Bryn sounds okay or not. He's definitely awake. Knowing he's alive and well, and my family are happy now makes me feel sort of complete, I have my pack and in this moment, I feel like I'm finding myself again.

"Where's Carys?" He says. I hear footsteps come towards the door, I take a few steps back as it swings open. Mum stands there.

"Come in Cariad, he's doing well." She takes my hands and slowly leads me into the room. I look at my family stand at the foot of the bed. I can't help but bring my eyes to the very faded patch of dried blood on the floor, that was my blood. I look at it for a second.

"Carys?" Bryn says. I look over to the bed. He's sat up.

"Hi Bryn." I go to give him a hug, avoiding his injury. He really does look well. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"It's not your fault Carys, how many times do we have to tell you?" He says.

"Yeah, it's not always about you." Rhydian smiles and we laugh. Everything feels a bit more normal, now that we can laugh together again. Dr. Whitewood smiles at us. "So what's the deal? Is he okay now? Did you get the thorn and the poison out?"

"Yes, the thorn and poison are both gone now, but he has an wound infection which is easily manageable. I'd like to keep him in tonight and you can bring him home in the morning, but I suggest he doesn't go to school for at least a week and I would like to see him every other day for the next few weeks just to check on the wound. For now I'll put him on Tazobactam." She hands mum a packet of anti-biotics.

"Thank you Dr. Whitewood, you've helped this family a lot. We are in your debt." She says.

"You don't owe me anything, I'm here to help," She smiles again, "Plus it's my job." Mum hugs her, she's so... human these days. I like her this way.

"I'll leave you to it." She gives us one last smile before leaving the room, a few seconds later, Maddy, Jana, Shannon and Tom come in. I give Tom a big ol' hug. Feels like years since I saw him and Shan last.

We try to catch him and Shannon up on everything that's been going on, all they knew was that a cub had been hurt and they knew it could only be Bryn, so they weren't surprised to see us. We fill them in on all the stuff with Ingrid, they're very kind and supportive towards me, normally this would make me feel uncomfortable, because I never feel like I deserve support, but I do. And I deserve this pack. We belong together, we might be a bunch of misfits but that's what keeps us close. I've never felt more like I belong somewhere in my entire life, and I never want it to end.


End file.
